Golf club



July 12, 1932. w. L. BECKLEY GOLF CLUB Filed Sept. 9, 1929 Patented July 12, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT O C I WELCOME LOUIS BECKLEY, OF SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE I BECKLEY-RALSTON 60., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS GOLF CLUB Application filed September 9, 1929. Serial No. 391,186.

This invention relates to golf clubs and more particularly to metal clubs used for approach shots.

One of the objects of the invention is to produce a club in which the loft may be varied by the user according to the lie of the ball, without producing any rocker-like motion of the club sole on the ground. Heretofore, clubs of this type have been made of metal, of substantial thickness from face to back, and have been formed with a substantially flat. sole. As a result of this construction, when the user altered the normal loft of the club, the sole of the club hadrocker movement on the ground, which action resulted in raising the lower margin of the club face from the ground.

Inthe construction embodying the present invention, the club has substantial thickness from face to back, but the sole is so nar-- row that it practically has only line contact with the ground, and the loft of the face may be altered to a liberal extent by tilting or pivoting the club on its sole, forwardly and rearwardly thereof and without raising the lower margin of the face of the club 2.8111 other clubs of ordinary. Construction.

Other novel features of the construction include the curving of the sole from toe to heel by which the club may be rocked longitudinally of the sole to permit the player to vary his stance relative to the ball, as desired.

The club is provided with a horizontally V disposed top which enables the player when addressing his ball to form a more accurate estimate of the angle of his club face to the line of flight than ispossible when the top is angularly disposed as in clubs. ofconventional design.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a face view of a club embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the club shown in Fig. 1, looking toward the toe of the club, the full line showing the normal loft of the club and the dotted line indicating how the loft of the club may be altered by tilting or pivoting the club upon its sole.

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectionalview taken on the line H of Figure-1.

' In that embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, 5 indicates the club shaft, rigidly secured to theheaol of the club. The :55

head is joined to the sha'ft'fi by an extension 6, which extends upwardly and outwardly from the heel of the club head in substantially axial alignment with the shaft when viewed from the face of the club as shown in Figure 1, but said extension 6 is curved slightly from the heel in a directionforwardly of the face of the club, as indicated at 7, andabove said curved portion is substantially in axial alignment with the shaft when viewed from the (Hf toe of the club head as shown in Figure 2. :The head has'an inclined face 8, a fiat, narrow horizontally disposed top 9, and rear surfaces l0and 11 i Said rear surfaces and 11 are joined-to- 70" gether in a substantially horizontalline and in a plane substantially parallel to the horizon't'ally disposed top 9.. The surface 10 is inclineddownwardly and rearwardly from the top 9 to about halfway down the back of the 16"" head and the surface 11. is inclined downwardly'and forwardly from thesurface 10 to the head, but the angle is sufficiently acute to render-it unlikely that the surface 11 will touch the ground even when the player has tilted the club rearwardly to an unusual ex-Otl I tent. The face 8 preferably extends atapproximately 2. to an'gleto the back surface 11. j T I The sole 12 is curved longitudinally from the toe 13 tothe heel 14 to permit the user to vary his stance to be more or, less near to the ball, as desired. 7 r f g It will be observed that by constructing the club head as herein described, permitting the tilting of the club forwardly and rearwardly 36:

on the sole 12, the normal point of impact (indicated at 15 on Fig. 1) is lowered when the loft is increased, enabling the club to get further under the ball than is feasible with 5 ordinary clubs. When the loft of a club having a sole of substantial width from face to rear is shifted from the normal angle of the face to a horizontal plane, a rockerlike motion is given to the sole of such widesoled clubs and, assuming that the shaft has been moved rearwardly, the forward part of the sole will be raised from the ground, the lower margin of the face will be lifted and the position of the face will be such that the normal impact point will be raised.

' I'claim:

1. A metal golf club having a head with its face inclined relatively to the shaft, upper and'lower rear surfaces extending angularly 2, to each other and to the face, the lower of said rear surfaces merging with said face at its lower margin and forming a sharp edge, and the other rear surface extending from the first mentioned rear surface toward the upper margin of the face'and merging with a narrow top of the'head, the greatest weight of the head being behind the normal point of impact between ball and club face, and disposed in a plane paralleling a subjacent sur- .3() face when the club is held in playing position relative to said surface.

2. A metal golf club having a shaft and a head connected to the shaft, the head having an inclined face and a rear surface joined to- 36 gether longitudinally at the bottom edge of the head, said rear surface extending sharply upwardly and rearwardly from its junction with the face at an acute angle to said face, and forming at the juncture a sharp edge,

' whereby the loft of the face may be altered to a liberalextent by tilting or pivoting the head on its bottom edge, forwardly and rearwardly thereof, and without raising the lower margin of the face of the head. I

5 3. A metal golf club having a shaft anda "heacl connected to the'shaft, the head being of substantial thickness opposite the longitudinal center of its face and having an inclined face and a rear surface joined together longiso tudinally to form a sharp bottom edge for the "head, said rear surface extending sharply upwardly and rearwardly from its junction with the face to said thickened portion of the head, the sole being curved longitudinally 5 5 from toe to heel, and the top being substantiallyflat and horizontally disposed and substantially parallel to the horizontal plane in whicclli the thickest portion of the head is dispose i In testimony that I claim the-foregoing as my invention, I affix my signature, this sixth day of September, 1929.

l/VELCOME LOUIS BECKLEY. 

